4 ms·

How about instead of fining them, we just create a free tax filing website at the IRS to spite them? $141MM is just the cost of doing business, and that's ridi

How about instead of fining them, we just create a free tax filing website at the IRS to spite them? $141MM is just the cost of doing business, and that's ridiculous.

moate 5y ago
Because the IRS tied their own hands when they agreed not to compete. You'd need to find political will to change that and "how you file your taxes" isn't a sexy issue that gets voters to give a fuck.
- rexpop 5y ago
  > they agreed not to compete Apparently, as of 2019, this is no longer the case.[0] 0. https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-program-drops-agreement-not-to-compete-with-turbotax https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-pro...
  - moate 5y ago
    Re-reading the original comment, I misunderstood their verb tense. I took it as "why hadn't we just done this ourselves" and was pointing out the historic glad-handing. You are correct that in response to the issue, the IRS cut out the sweetheart deal they'd given the industry originally.
goatcode 5y ago
The IRS went 3 months past promised deadline on their withholdings estimator site. I can't imagine the folly that'd be produced by them attempting tax software, as wrong as that sounds.
- countvonbalzac 5y ago
  Because they're ridiculously underfunded. Half of the conservative movement is based around trying to starve the IRS to death so that de facto taxes for wealthy people don't exist anymore.
  - pueblito 5y ago
    It’s bipartisan
- pempem 5y ago
  There is a continuous issue in our government where you can support a department and its efforts however its continuous underfunding or gutting has made the department essentially defunct. Then when the rest of our electorate looks at it they say "what is this shit dept? it doesn't do anything anyway, let's find a privatized solution". That was in fact the entire goal of gutting it. That and passing the cost onto you, the citizen in addition to the taxes paid for said defuct department that has a few well paid bureacrats sitting in there finding more ways for it to be shitty at its job. This is an openly stated conservative talking point and goal. I first noticed it happening in earnest under GW Bush with the EPA, dept of interior, post office, and more.
db65edfc7996 5y ago
Even better is to have the IRS to automatically calculate your tax each year. Send a postcard with the results, if you disagree, you do the entire filing yourself. Planet Money[0] did a story about California's attempt years ago. Conservatives vetoed the legislation because they think taxes should be painful. [0]: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/03/709656642/episode-760-tax-hero https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/03/709656642/epis...
- PolygonSheep 5y ago
  > Conservatives vetoed the legislation because they think taxes should be painful It's a shame that Republicans have totally dominated California politics since ReadyReturn got vetoed. It's like Texas on the west coast.
  - DangitBobby 5y ago
    ReadyReturn did eventually make it through the legislature, so you sarcasm doesn't fit the situation.
- ThunderSizzle 5y ago
  Even better would be to abolish the income tax and the IRS. Democrats and Rhinos opposed this during the TEA party revival, which became MAGA at the frustration and realization of the uniparty of DC. But keep playing dems vs repubs game. Many have already seen the realization that its now elitist vs MAGA. Aka elitist trying to control everyone else vs individuals trying to live their lives
Izkata 5y ago
It already exists: https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-f... If you're below the threshold I think it should be similar to TurboTax & etc, while the Fillable Forms one is the same as the paper forms.
- shusaku 5y ago
  I used the IRS’s online forms this year and was happy with the process. But I just took last year’s forms and updated the numbers, it’d be much more difficult from scratch. Also, I have the lingering fear that the IRS is more likely to audit forms filled out by hand instead of by some company…
bogomipz 5y ago
Doing exactly that was actually the origin of Free File system that Intuit was supposed to be providing. Back in 2002 the IRS was set to create an electronic free filing system. In response the tax prep lobby comically named "The Free File Alliance"[1] went into overdrive to prevent this. The IRS agreed to forgo creating their own Free Tax file system if Intuit, H&R Block et al. would agree to provide that service to tax payers. This is the agreement that was executed by both parties two decades ago: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/2002-free-online-electronic-tax-filing-agreement.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/2002-free-online-electronic-... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_File_Alliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_File_Alliance

How about instead of fining them, we just create a free tax filing website at the IRS to spite them? $141MM is just the cost of doing business, and that's ridiculous.

moate 5y ago

Because the IRS tied their own hands when they agreed not to compete. You'd need to find political will to change that and "how you file your taxes" isn't a sexy issue that gets voters to give a fuck.

rexpop 5y ago
> they agreed not to compete Apparently, as of 2019, this is no longer the case.[0] 0. https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-program-drops-agreement-not-to-compete-with-turbotax https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-pro...
- moate 5y ago
  Re-reading the original comment, I misunderstood their verb tense. I took it as "why hadn't we just done this ourselves" and was pointing out the historic glad-handing. You are correct that in response to the issue, the IRS cut out the sweetheart deal they'd given the industry originally.

goatcode 5y ago

The IRS went 3 months past promised deadline on their withholdings estimator site. I can't imagine the folly that'd be produced by them attempting tax software, as wrong as that sounds.

countvonbalzac 5y ago
Because they're ridiculously underfunded. Half of the conservative movement is based around trying to starve the IRS to death so that de facto taxes for wealthy people don't exist anymore.
- pueblito 5y ago
  It’s bipartisan
pempem 5y ago
There is a continuous issue in our government where you can support a department and its efforts however its continuous underfunding or gutting has made the department essentially defunct. Then when the rest of our electorate looks at it they say "what is this shit dept? it doesn't do anything anyway, let's find a privatized solution". That was in fact the entire goal of gutting it. That and passing the cost onto you, the citizen in addition to the taxes paid for said defuct department that has a few well paid bureacrats sitting in there finding more ways for it to be shitty at its job. This is an openly stated conservative talking point and goal. I first noticed it happening in earnest under GW Bush with the EPA, dept of interior, post office, and more.

db65edfc7996 5y ago

Even better is to have the IRS to automatically calculate your tax each year. Send a postcard with the results, if you disagree, you do the entire filing yourself. Planet Money[0] did a story about California's attempt years ago. Conservatives vetoed the legislation because they think taxes should be painful. [0]: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/03/709656642/episode-760-tax-hero https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/03/709656642/epis...

PolygonSheep 5y ago
> Conservatives vetoed the legislation because they think taxes should be painful It's a shame that Republicans have totally dominated California politics since ReadyReturn got vetoed. It's like Texas on the west coast.
- DangitBobby 5y ago
  ReadyReturn did eventually make it through the legislature, so you sarcasm doesn't fit the situation.
ThunderSizzle 5y ago
Even better would be to abolish the income tax and the IRS. Democrats and Rhinos opposed this during the TEA party revival, which became MAGA at the frustration and realization of the uniparty of DC. But keep playing dems vs repubs game. Many have already seen the realization that its now elitist vs MAGA. Aka elitist trying to control everyone else vs individuals trying to live their lives

Izkata 5y ago

It already exists: https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-f... If you're below the threshold I think it should be similar to TurboTax & etc, while the Fillable Forms one is the same as the paper forms.

shusaku 5y ago
I used the IRS’s online forms this year and was happy with the process. But I just took last year’s forms and updated the numbers, it’d be much more difficult from scratch. Also, I have the lingering fear that the IRS is more likely to audit forms filled out by hand instead of by some company…

bogomipz 5y ago

Doing exactly that was actually the origin of Free File system that Intuit was supposed to be providing. Back in 2002 the IRS was set to create an electronic free filing system. In response the tax prep lobby comically named "The Free File Alliance"[1] went into overdrive to prevent this. The IRS agreed to forgo creating their own Free Tax file system if Intuit, H&R Block et al. would agree to provide that service to tax payers. This is the agreement that was executed by both parties two decades ago: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/2002-free-online-electronic-tax-filing-agreement.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/2002-free-online-electronic-... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_File_Alliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_File_Alliance